Target apparatus



Sept. 2, 1941. N sQUlRE 2,254,952

TARGET APPARATUS y original Filed oct. 9, 195e 2 sheets-sheet 1 3g 42 6'0' ATP 40 i -44 wm I l 221 0 T 33 g4 9 68 U. o 5

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5 i; Suzre o @2 5km igt, BY

/ 60 30 5 HIS ATroRNEY.

Sept 2, 1941- N. E. SQUIR 2,254,952

` TARGET`APPARATUS Original Filed Oct. 9, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENT OR.

Y Naf/29125. @faire BY 54mm HIS ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 2, 1941 TARGET APPARATUS Nathen E. Squire, Chicago, Ill., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Advance Patents Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois substituted for abandoned application Serial No. 104,849, October 9, 1936. This application February 19, 1940, Serial No. 319,729

3 Claims.

This application is a substitute for abandoned application 104,849 led Oct. 9, 1936.

This invention relates to target apparatus and more particularly to a moving target mechanism for use With light projecting guns, and is particularly adapted to use in coin controlled amusement devices.

A particular object of the invention is the provision of an oscillating target mechanism which is very compact, and relatively simple and inexpensive in construction.

Another important object of the invention is the provision of novel means for supporting a stationary photo-electric mechanism in operative relationship with moving or travelling target means.

A further object is the provision of a target movable across an aiming range in opposite directions and having a plurality of target faces mounted to move into aiming positions to face in the direction of travel in said opposite directions.

Another object is the provision of light passages in the several target faces and which are aligned with photo-electric hit indicating means upon movement of said faces into aiming position.

The more specic novel contributions residing in the present invention will appear as the following particular description develops in View of the'several figures of the annexed drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a complete target structure;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the target mechanism taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional detail of the target reversing mechanism as shown in Figs. 2 and 4;

Fig. 4 is a perspective of the target reversing mechanism shown also in Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional detail of the unlatching or target releasing mechanism as seen along line 5 5 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a sectional fragment of part of the latching mechanism as seen along line 6 6 in Fig. 3;

Fig. '7 is a front elevation of the target mechanism as seen when the scenic background of Fig. 1 is removed, and is taken in the direction of line I-'I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of part of the target mechanism shown in Fig. 2 looking from the opposite side of the latter; and

Fig. 9 is a diagram of one form of circuit suitable for use with the present target mechanism.

The present apparatus includes a target member A in the form of a duck or other suitable character Which is adapted to move before the sight of the operator of the device against a suitable scenic background I4, such as shown in Fig. 1, and the target portion A is provided with an aperture or light-permeable portion I6 at which the player aims with a light gun, endeavoring to direct his aim so skillfully that a beam of light Will be projected into'said aperture when the trigger is pulled. Having thus directed the light onto the target the shot scores a hit by actuating photo-electric mechanism associated With the target in the particular manner hereinafter described for the'purpose of indicating a hit to the player by means of an audible Yor visual signal and desirably, also, by causing the duck A or other target to fall or otherwisemove into a hit position. t

The present invention provides an oscillating target in which the duck or other target member oscillates or travels back and forth before the vision of the shooter, moving from the right-hand extremity of the background I4 in Fig. '1, across to the left-hand extremity thereof and reversing its direction of travel upon reaching the lefthand limit of movement in such manner that the target character or duck will be facing the direction of flight or movement across the aiming range during this return passage, the dotted line delineations of the duck A' in Fig. 1 denoting the starting condition of the target member at the beginning of` each oscillation across the view of the player.

The photo-electric cell in the present invention is positioned at a point remote from the target proper and is relatively stationary, novel means being provided for directing light from the target aperture I6 to the remotely situated photoelectric cell and mechanism.

Referring now to Fig. 2 showing a side elevation in section ofthe novel target structure, it will be seen that the mechanism comprises a base member I8 having a pair of opposite upstanding supporting walls 20 and 22 and a hub structure 24 including a main tubular portion 26 having an lar hub members 2E and 28 is open, and the larger hub member 26 has a radially extended tubular arm 36 which terminates in an axially extended tubular part or housing 38. At the left-hand extremity of the housing 38 is positioned a lens 40 and within the housing behind said lens is a light directing member 42 which, inthe embodiment used for illustrative purposes herein, is a mirror seated in an open ended tube 44 having one of its open end portions cut diagonally with respect to its axis, with a lower wall portion bent inwardly to form the lip 46 against which the lower end of the mirror 42 is adapted torest and having anupper wall portion similarly bent back to. form the lip lis against which the upper end of'the mirror 42 may be secured by ascrew or other desirable means.

The reector tube 44 is dimensioned to telescope snugly into the housing 38 and is dimensioned in a longitudinal direction so that the outermost peripheral extremities of-V thel smaller tube $4. when registered with the corresponding extremity of. the housing 38 willi position, the mirror. 42 correctly. for the direction of light from lensA'i downwardly tothe tube 36 and into the wellor interior hub part 25.

For the purpose of further facilitating the proper positioning of the reflecting means d2', a pin'il is extended diametrically across the interior ofv the refiector tube 44 in such manner that when theV respective peripheral extremities of the tube Il are aligned with those ofthe tube 38; andthe pin 5l)` extends in a horizontal direction*y the reiiector 42 Willrbe in proper position. A suitable cap 52, which in this instance is desirablymade o ft rubber; is fitted, over. the open endvoi the housing 38.

A block provides a union joining the smaller hub tube 28 with the larger hub, tube 2.6.; anda target, supporting arm` 35; whichin this instance is a square tube; is extended radiallyy from the smaller hub tube 28 through the block 25 substantially parallel with thel light tube 35 and ter- Ininatesy with its upper vextremity appreciably` below that-ofthe axially extended/',reilector housing 38. The target mechanism shown in perspective in-Fig. 4 is supported atY the upper extremity of this target arm 3K5.

The target supporting and reversing mechanism which is carried'Y at theV upper extremity' of the=arm 35 comprises, as shown in Fig. 4, a block 54 which is pivoted by shaft 55- through confronting wall portions of the square tube 35` adjacent the upper extremity thereof, and the block 54 has oppositely disposed curvilinear or cam edges 55 and a pair of oppositely disposed flat edge surfaces 58 from eachl of which extend in a radialdirectionV a pair of slotted bosses Gilin which are pivote-:l latches @21.` urged by springs 6,3 into latching position.

Target elements` orjfacesfin the form of ducks A and-Baresecured tothe outer surf-ace of the block 55s-'by means-or hinges 54 (see Fig. '7) for .movement inY divergent radial directions and.

each.. ofthe target` elements has alatch opening 66 cut in the bottom thereof. adjacent the juncture-of thehinges Minto which the latch members 62 extend to hold the targets in an upright position as will. bel more fully explained hereafter. Also extended from the outermost surface of the block:- 54 isa stud 68 which may be anextension-of the shaft 55, and from the outermost extremity of which extend in a radial direction a pair of resilient bulers l0 against which the target elements A and B are adapted Cil to strike when they are moved into hit position.

Means for unlatching the targets A and B are provided in the form of a U-shaped cap or yoke l2 having a cross wall lli with a latch lip l5 extended therefrom and which overlies the endwise extremity of the target shaft 35, with side wall portions or arms 18 overlying opposite side Walls of the shaft for sliding movement thereagainst. A pair of longitudinally extensive slots 8i) are provided in each of the opposite walls of the shaft 35 against which the arms 'I8 of the yoke slide, and pins 82 are extended from the outermost surfaces of the arms 18 through the slots Bit` and the tube 35 in such manner that the yoke 'i2 may be slid axially of the arm 35 with such movement limited by the engagement of the pins 62with the extremities of the slots 80, this latter movement being suiiicient to cause the latch lip l5 on the bottom '14 of the yoke l2 to bear against the free end of the latch 62 and pivot the latter against the springl 63 out of latching engagement Witha target element'A.

The driving means for the target elements A and B comprises a spur gear 5l mounted on an extremity of shaft against a face of the tube 35 forv driving engagement with a larger spur gear 59, also pivoted in the arm 35, and having a crankoarm 8S which is pivotally connected with a drive rodY 88 connected with a rocker'arm 90- which floats on the smaller hub tube-28 betweenl the block 25 and Wall 22. A friction bracket 65- isV attached t0 the end of the-arm 35 and has an offset linger portion 57 which bears against the inner radially extensive surface of the block 54 for the purpose of dampening the movement ofY the latter so that it will support either oithetargetportions- A or B in proper vertical position Whenthe driving gears 5l and 59- are at rest.

The mechanism. for oscillating the target and reversing the night of the ducks A and B-correspondingly, as shown in Fig. 7, includes a motor.

`iii-suitably secured to the target support I8 and having, a. rheostat control and driving a camI disc 95 through a speed. reducing mechanism, the cam disc having an offset crank armV 98; pivoted thereto and to the mid portion. of the rack 32 such that the rotation of the disc V96 will recipro-4 cate the rack in its bracketsv 3.4 on' wall 22. to oscillate the rocker gear 3!) on hub 28 andthe target arms 35 and 36. The gear 3i] has a pair of radially extended arms 33 at the extremity. of each of which is attached an equalizing spring |00, the other extremities of these springs being commonly secured to the offset end portion ofa bracket 99 attached to wall 22.

In order to effect the movement of the target into hitV position when a light beam is properly directed on to the lens li' through the aperture IG of the target, I have provided a photo-electric mechanism which includes a photo-cell ll5-of any desired type which is extended into the housing structure in an axial direction into the interior or well part of the large hub tube 26 from the outermost extremity thereof, and which photo-- electric cell is of the type employing amplifier means` such as a vacuum tube amplifier. The amplier unit indicated at T in Fig. 2 maybe mounted with the target structure on a base Il and have a tube socket in a wall part thereof, in which the tube [i5 may be operatively seated to extend into the tube 2, so that the photo-sensitive element of the tube will lie substantially beloW the median path of the light tube or arm 36 to intercept light rays directed from the lens 40.

by the reflector 132 or a prism or equivalent light directing means in the lens housing. Where such an arrangement is used it is desirable to provide a dust collar 49 to surround the base part of the tube 45` and close the open end parts of the tube 26.

Supported on a bracket 23 on base I8 is a latch tripping electro-magnet or solenoid I2'having a vertically disposed plunger |64 through the apertured upper end portion o-f which is freely extended a lever arm |06 having one (left-hand) extremity fulcrumed in an opening 29 in the bracket 23, and its other (right-hand) extremity secured to a latch rod 19 which extends within the target arm 35 for engagement with a collar 83 carried on the lower pins 82 of the yoke 'l2 at the target extremity of the arm 35. The solenoid |02 is connected electrically for actuation Iby the photo-cell 45 and an associated amplifier means as shown schematically in Fig. 9.

Operation Assuming the novel target mechanism to be adapted for coin control, and referring conveniently to the several figures, including the circuit diagram of Fig. 9, the player may release the apparatus for use by insertion of a proper coin in a coin controlled master switch C (Fig. 9) to energize the motor 34, the light gun G and the photo-electric cell 45, and amplifier T.

Under these circumstances, motor 94 rotating the cam disc 96 will reciprocate the rack 32 through the crank rod 98 and oscillate the gear 30 and the latter, being attached to the hub structure 28, 26, the target arm 35 and light tube 36 will be correspondingly oscillated so as to move the target duck A across the vision of the marksman as illustrated in Fig. 1.

Assuming the duck target to start from the position A in Fig. 1 and travel to the position B, the oating rocker arm 96 (Fig. 7) will be carried with the hub tube or shaft 28 into the dotted s line position shown in Fig. 7, and upon further rotational movement of the hub toward its limit of movement in this direction, arm 90 will abut the stop pin 9| and thus be pivoted in a clockwise direction opposite to that of the movement of the target arms at this movement, so that the arm 88 will be urged in an upward direction to pivot the short arm 86 and the gear 59 in a clockwise direction, thus rotating the small gear 51 and the block 54 against the frictional retarding eilect of the linger 61 of bracket 65 and caus- -ing the lowermost of the two duck targets to be rotated into the upper position preparatory for the return movement of the arms in the opposite direction, the purpose of such arrangement being to position the duck for night in a proper direction.

If it is assumed that one of the duck targets A has been moved into a struck position, as shown in Fig. 4, by a skillfully directed shot, the duck reversing operation just described will cause the fallen target A to move by gravity into a vertical position at which time the weight of the target being thus restored will pivot its corresponding latch 62 so that the latch linger thereof will move into the latch aperture 66 to maintain the target in an upright position preparatory to its return movement to the opposite limit of its arc of travel.

As the duck targets thus oscillate back and forth before the vision of the marksman, the latter may score a hit by skillfully directing a beam of light from his light gun through the aperture l5 in the duck A and the lens 4B behind the latter (Fig. 2') to impinge upon the light directing means or mirror 42 which is angularly disposed within the light housing 3,8, which directs such light down through the tube 36 and onto a photo-cell 45, the result of which is to actuate the photo-electric mechanism and its associated ampliier T to operate a relay R and in turn energize the target releasing solenoid |62 from the line or source of supply (Fig. v9), whereupon the plunger |64 will be drawn downwardly to pivot the arm |06 at 29 and draw the latchA rod l0 downwardly within the arm 35 so as to pull the yoke 'l2 on the end of arm 35 downwardly and cause the latch lip 'I6 to bear against the latch arm 62 and raise the latter to unlatch or release the duck or target element A, whereupon the latter will be urged by a small spring El to fall by gravity into a substantially horizontal position against one of the buffers lll. The latter sequence of events occurs almost instantly and the marksman is apprised of his hit by seeing the target fall into hit position, and if desired any suitable signal means such as a bell (not shown) may be readily included in circuit with the solenoid |62 as a further hit indicating means.

rThereafter the struck target will be restored by operation of the restoring mechanism 54, 55, and 59 above described, as the radial target arm approaches its limit of travel, and the apparatus will be conditioned for a repetition of the foregoing operations.

While I have illustrated and described the preierred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modilication without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modications as come within the scope of the appended claims. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An oscillating target including an oscillating arm and driving means therefor, and individual target figures on said arm and simulating moving objects traveling in relatively reverse directions, mechanism driven cooperably with said arm for periodically interchanging the relative positions of said gures so as to present to view one of the same traveling apparently in the direction of movement of said arm during each oscillation of the latter, each of said gures being also mounted for independent movement from a normal to a hit-indicating position, releasable means holding each of said figures in said normal position, 'together with photo-electric releaseactuating means mounted for movement with said arm, each of said iigures having a light penetrable target area, said area being optically aligned with said photo-electric means when said ligure is presented to view as aforesaid, and mechanism operated by said photo-electric means for operating said releasable means to permit the presented figure to move into hit-indicating position when light is directed through said area, and means for automatically restoring said figures from hit-indicating to normal position upon continued movement of said arm.

2. A target mechanism for use with light guns and comprising a target arm supported for oscillating movement and having a pair of reversely facing target figures pivotally mounted at an end thereof and each figure having a target area through which light may pass, releasable means for automatically latching said targets in normal upright position and eachV targeth being movable by gravity from av latchedI upright position to indicate aV hitand being automatically restored to latohed upright position by movement of saidf target arm, light-directing means positioned to receive light from the target areain an upright one of said targets for direction to aA photo-electric device, and means operable by said photo-electricv device, when the same is struck by light, for releasing said latching means to cause said-l upright target tol move to indicate .aA hit, together withmeans for oscillating said targetarm and periodically moving each of said targets into. operative position relative to said light-directing meansand such that the particular-target in said position will face appropriately in the direction of movement of the target arm,

said target gures being arranged to move back into upright position aftereach hit-indicating movement responsive to subsequent movement of said target arm.

3. Ar target structure including a driven uprightoscillatoryv armhaving a target carrying block pivoted near an end thereof, a pair of oppositely facing target figures each pivotally mounted onsaid carrying block and each movable into and outvofuprightposition, releasable latch means on said block and automatically operable to latch said figures individually in normaly upright position when said gures are moved into said position; latch. release meansmounted in xed position on said arm near said block,

and mechanism driven cooperably with said driven. arm for periodically rocking said block. to!

move one of. said targetsA into a predetermined position with said releasable latch means thereof inoperative relation to said xed release means,

each of said gures having a ligl'it-penetrablel by movement of said carrying block toy effect restoration ofthe figures toVsaid-normal position;

NATI-IEN E. SQUIRE. 

